Sentinel Capital Partners has agreed to sell The Luminaires Group, a manufacturer of architectural lighting fixtures, to Acuity Brands. Luminaires was acquired by Sentinel through its fifth fund in June 2016.
The Luminaires Group designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes specification-grade lighting products that are used in both interior and exterior applications in commercial, institutional, hospitality, and urban applications. The company operates through five product divisions including a-light (indoor architectural lighting); Cyclone (outdoor decorative products for the municipal market); Eureka (indoor and outdoor contemporary decorative lighting); Luminaire LED (indoor and outdoor vandal-resistant lighting); and Luminis (indoor and outdoor products for commercial and institutional applications).
Luminaires has annual sales of approximately $100 million and 350 employees across five locations in the US and Canada. The company, led by President Christian Fabi, was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Quebec (www.luminairesgroup.com).
“Luminaires’ management team, under the leadership of Christian Fabi, built a world-class business with an incredible culture and a deep commitment to serving its customers with innovative lighting solutions,” said Marc Buan, a principal at Sentinel. “During our partnership, Luminaires has successfully completed a complex consolidation of three separate divisions and has integrated two add-on acquisitions, which enabled the company to centralize management, streamline operations, and expand its product offerings. We are thrilled to have worked with this team and see a very bright future for Luminaires as part of Acuity Brands.”
The two add-on acquisitions completed by Luminaires were the November 2018 buy of Luminaire LED, a New Jersey-based manufacturer of indoor and outdoor vandal-resistant lighting; and the December 2016 buy of Luminis, a Montreal-based manufacturer of indoor and outdoor lighting products for commercial and institutional applications.
Sentinel Capital Partners invests in management buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures, and going-private transactions of businesses with EBITDAs up to $65 million. Sentinel targets eight industry sectors: aerospace and defense, business services, consumer, distribution, food and restaurants, franchising, healthcare, and industrials. The firm is headquartered in New York (www.sentinelpartners.com).
Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI) is a lighting manufacturer and building-management services provider with more than 12,000 employees and annual revenues of approximately $3.7 billion. Acuity’s products include luminaires, lighting controls, building system controllers, prismatic skylights, power supplies and integrated systems for indoor and outdoor applications in commercial, industrial, institutional, infrastructure and residential spaces. The company is headquartered in Atlanta and has operations throughout North America, Europe and Asia (www.acuitybrands.com).
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | September 11, 2019
